Low Power LTE (LP-LTE) Paging Monitoring

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication device (UE) may include a paging subsystem that performs paging-monitoring as part of wireless communications of the wireless communication device. The UE may place wireless communication system resources not required during paging-monitoring into either a low-power state or a power-down state, and those system resources may remain in one of those respective states during paging-monitoring. The wireless communication system resources not required during the paging-monitoring may include at least a wireless communications protocol stack used during the wireless communications of the UE, and at least system resources used for performing uplink related tasks independently of wireless communication system resources used for performing downlink related tasks. The paging subsystem may include at least a control manager subsystem capable of decoding a physical downlink control channel, a downlink control subsystem capable of performing tasks related to a physical downlink data channel, and a message parser for parsing paging messages.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/274,970 titled “Low-power LTE (LP-LTE) Paging Monitoring”, filed onSep. 23, 2016 and claiming benefit of priority of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/307,772 titled “Low-power LTE (LP-LTE)Paging Monitoring”, filed on Mar. 14, 2016, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety as though fully andcompletely set forth herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to wireless communications, and moreparticularly to low-power paging-monitoring during wirelesscommunications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) nowprovide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigationusing the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operatingsophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities.Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communicationtechnologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communicationstandards include GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced(LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), BLUETOOTH, etc.

The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced inwireless communication devices also creates a continuous need forimprovement in both wireless communications and in wirelesscommunication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure theaccuracy of transmitted and received signals through user equipment (UE)devices used in wireless cellular communications, e.g., through wirelessdevices such as cellular phones, wearable wireless communication devices(e.g. a smart watch), base stations and relay stations, just to name afew. In addition, wireless communication technologies, such as cellularcommunication technologies, are substantially designed to provide mobilecommunication capabilities to wireless devices generally powered by aportable power supply, e.g., a battery. Batteries hold a finite charge,and so in order to improve battery life of wireless devices, oneapproach is to reduce power consumption required to perform wirelesscommunications. Accordingly, some wireless communication technologiesimplement features designed to conserve power while still providing ahigh-quality user experience. However, increasing the functionality of aUE device can place a significant strain on the battery life of the UEdevice. Thus it is very important to also reduce power requirements inUE device designs while allowing the UE device to maintain good transmitand receive abilities for improved communications.

Other corresponding issues related to the prior art will become apparentto one skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with thedisclosed embodiments as described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, of methods forperforming paging-monitoring during wireless communications whileconserving considerable amount of power. Embodiments are furtherpresented herein for wireless communication systems containing wirelesscommunication devices or user equipment (UE) devices and/or accessorydevices and/or wearable devices and/or base stations communicating witheach other within the wireless communication systems.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for use in wireless communications,for example a cellular controller for facilitating cellularcommunications of a wireless communication device, may include a pagingsubsystem that performs paging monitoring as part of the wirelesscommunications of the wireless communication device. When the wirelesscommunication device enters idle mode, the apparatus may place at leastthose wireless communication system resources that are not requiredduring the paging monitoring into either a low-power state or apower-down state. Subsequently, if the wireless communication systemresources not required during the paging monitoring were placed in alow-power state, they may remain in the low-power state until the pagingsubsystem activates them. Similarly, if the wireless communicationsystem resources not required during the paging monitoring were placedin a power-down state, they may remain in the power down state until thepaging subsystem activates them.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for use in wireless communications,for example a cellular controller for facilitating cellularcommunications of a wireless communication device, may include a pagingsubsystem that performs paging-monitoring as part of the wirelesscommunications of the wireless communication device. The apparatus mayplace wireless communication system resources that are not required/usedduring paging-monitoring into either a low-power state or a power-downstate, and those system resources may remain in one of those respectivestates even during paging-monitoring.

The wireless communication system resources not used/required during thepaging-monitoring may include at least wireless communication systemresources that perform uplink related tasks orthogonal to or disjointedfrom wireless communication system resources that perform downlinkrelated tasks. Thus, the paging subsystem may include at least a controlmanager subsystem capable of decoding a physical downlink controlchannel, and a downlink control subsystem that performs tasks related toa physical downlink data channel. The downlink control subsystem mayinclude a message parser capable of parsing paging messages. In someembodiments, the paging subsystem may also include one or more of arespective portion of shared memory used for inter-processorcommunication, a respective portion of scratch memory used forprocessing, a respective portion of code and data memory used byprocessing core elements of the wireless communication device that arenot part of the wireless communication system resources, a respectiveportion of scratch memory used by hardware modules, and/or a respectiveportion of registers and memory used by the hardware modules.

When placing the wireless communication system resources not requiredduring the paging-monitoring into the low-power state, the apparatus mayset memory voltages for memories in the wireless communication systemresources not required during paging-monitoring to levels belowoperating voltage levels, and/or decrease a clock frequency of operatingclocks of processing elements in the wireless communication systemresources not required during paging-monitoring. Prior to placing thewireless communication system resources not required during thepaging-monitoring into the power-down state, the apparatus may firstsave a present state of the wireless communication system resources notrequired during the paging-monitoring into a non-volatile memoryelement.

Once the wireless communication system resources not required/usedduring the paging-monitoring have been placed into either the low-powerstate or the power-down state, the paging subsystem may process aphysical downlink control channel and determine if the physical downlinkcontrol channel indicates paging. In response to determining that thephysical downlink control channel indicates paging, the paging subsystemmay process a physical downlink data channel, and determine if thepaging includes paging assigned to the wireless communication device. Inat least some embodiments, the paging subsystem includes a controlmanager subsystem to process the physical downlink control channel anddetermine if the physical downlink control channel indicates paging, andfurther includes a downlink control subsystem orthogonal to the controlmanager subsystem to process the physical downlink data channel anddetermine if the paging includes paging assigned to the wirelesscommunication device.

In response to determining that the paging includes paging assigned tothe wireless communication device, the paging subsystem may perform oneof the following depending on whether the wireless communication systemresources not required during the paging-monitoring had been previouslyplaced in a low-power state or a power-down state. In case the systemresources in question had been placed into the low-power state, thepaging subsystem may place those system resources (namely, the wirelesscommunication system resources not required during thepaging-monitoring) into normal operating mode. In case the systemresources in question had been placed into the power-down state, thepaging subsystem may restore, to system memory, a previously storedsystem state of those system resources (namely, the wirelesscommunication system resources not required during thepaging-monitoring), and restore, to system memory, code associated withthe wireless communication system resources not required during thepaging-monitoring.

Furthermore, in response to determining that the paging does not includepaging assigned to the wireless communication device, the pagingsubsystem may enter a discontinuous reception off-mode of operation.Similarly, in response to determining that the physical downlink controlchannel does not indicate paging, the paging subsystem may enter adiscontinuous reception off-mode of operation.

In some embodiments, a wireless communication device includes radiofrequency (RF) circuitry for performing RF communications, a controlmodule configured to handle control communications according to awireless communication technology, wherein the control module is coupledto the RF circuitry, a downlink module configured to handle downlinkdata communications according to the wireless communication technology,and an uplink module configured to handle uplink data communicationsaccording to the wireless communication technology. The radio, thecontrol module, the downlink module, and the uplink module may becommunicatively coupled, and the wireless communication device mayperform paging-monitoring, where during paging-monitoring at least theprotocol stack (with all its memory systems) and/or the uplink module(with all its subsystems and associated circuitry) is in either alow-power state or a power-down state. It should be noted that a majorcontributor for power consumption is the protocol stack with relativelysubstantial memory. Thus, a message parser (e.g. full ASN1 parser) maybe included in the downlink module, thereby allowing for the protocolstack to be placed in either a low-power mode or a power-down modeduring paging-monitoring, and remain in that mode until/unless activatedby the paging subsystem.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for use in wireless communications mayinclude a control manager module that includes a control managerprocessor and an associated control hardware subsystem coupled to thecontrol manager processor. The apparatus may further include an uplinkmanager module that includes an uplink manager processor and anassociated uplink hardware subsystem coupled to the uplink managerprocessor. The uplink manager module, which may be coupled to thecontrol manager module, may be used in performing wireless uplinkcommunications. The apparatus may also include a downlink manager modulethat includes a downlink manager processor and an associated downlinkhardware subsystem coupled to the downlink manager processor. Thedownlink manager module, which may be coupled to the control managermodule, may be used in performing wireless downlink communications.Finally, the apparatus may include a port coupled to the control managermodule for coupling to radio frequency (RF) communication circuitry. Theapparatus may use the control manager module, the downlink managermodule and the RF communication circuitry but not use the uplink managermodule during paging-monitoring.

In some embodiments, an apparatus for use in wireless communications mayinclude a paging subsystem that performs paging-monitoring as part ofwireless communications of a wireless communication device. When thewireless communication device enters idle mode, the apparatus may placeat least those wireless communication system resources that are notrequired during the paging-monitoring into either a low-power state or apower-down state. When in low-power state during paging-monitoring, thewireless communication system resources not required during thepaging-monitoring may remain in the low-power state until the pagingsubsystem activates them. Similarly, when in the power-down state duringpaging-monitoring, the wireless communication system resources notrequired during the paging-monitoring may remain in the power-down stateuntil the paging subsystem activates them.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with anexemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device and an exemplary accessorydevice, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 shows timing diagrams illustrating resource use for paginguse-case and data transmission use-case, respectively, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 5 shows a partial diagram of an exemplary wireless communicationdevice architecture, according to prior art;

FIG. 6 shows a partial diagram of an exemplary low-power wirelesscommunication device architecture, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows a partial diagram of an exemplary low-power wirelesscommunication device architecture, illustrating system resources unusedduring paging-monitoring, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method for performingpaging-monitoring without power gating, according to some embodiments;and

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method for performingpaging-monitoring with power gating, according to some embodiments.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but onthe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subjectmatter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Acronyms

Various acronyms are used throughout the present application.Definitions of the most prominently used acronyms that may appearthroughout the present application are provided below:

-   -   UE: User Equipment    -   RF: Radio Frequency    -   BS: Base Station    -   DL: Downlink (from BS to UE)    -   UL: Uplink (from UE to BS)    -   FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing    -   TDD: Time Division Duplexing    -   LTE: Long Term Evolution    -   TX: Transmission/Transmit    -   RX: Reception/Receive    -   RAT: Radio Access Technology    -   PDU: Protocol Data Unit    -   DRX: Discontinuous Reception    -   PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel    -   PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel    -   RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   RRC: Radio Resource Control    -   MAC: Media Access Control (layer)    -   PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol    -   TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol    -   RLC: Radio Link Control    -   NAS: Non-Access Stratum    -   PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel    -   PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   IPC: Inter-Processor Communication    -   HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the presentapplication:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices.The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium,e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computer system memoryor random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, RambusRAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g.,a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types ofmemory elements, etc. The memory medium may comprise other types ofmemory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory mediummay be located in a first computer system in which the programs areexecuted, or may be located in a second different computer system whichconnects to the first computer system over a network, such as theInternet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provideprogram instructions to the first computer system for execution. Theterm “memory medium” may include two or more memory mediums which mayreside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems thatare connected over a network.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Computer System (or Computer)—any of various types of computing orprocessing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframecomputer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance,personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computingsystem, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term“computer system” may be broadly defined to encompass any device (orcombination of devices) having at least one processor that executesinstructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which may be mobile or portable and which performwireless communications. In general, such devices may also be referredto as wireless communication devices. Examples of UE devices includemobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones)and tablet computers such as iPad™, Samsung Galaxy™, etc., portablegaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, GameboyAdvance™, iPod™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. Apple Watch™, GoogleGlass™), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storagedevices, or other handheld devices, etc. Various other types of deviceswould fall into this category if they include Wi-Fi or both cellular andWi-Fi communication capabilities and/or other wireless communicationcapabilities, for example over short-range radio access technologies(SRATs) such as BLUETOOTH™, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UEdevice” may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing,and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) which iseasily transported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Base Station (BS)—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processing Element—refers to various elements or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, e.g. ina user equipment device or in a cellular network device. Processingelements may include, for example: processors and associated memory,portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations ofthe above.

Wireless Device (or wireless communication device)—any of various typesof electronic devices, e.g. computer system devices, which performwireless communications such as wireless local area network (WLAN)communications, cellular communications according to one or more of anumber of different cellular radio access technologies, Wi-Ficommunications, and the like. The wireless communication device maywirelessly communicate through one or more respective radio frequency(RF) interfaces that facilitate such communications. As used herein, theterm “wireless communication device” may refer to a UE device, asdefined above, or to a stationary device, such as a stationary wirelessclient or a wireless base station. For example a wireless device may beany type of wireless station of an IEEE 802.11 system, such as an accesspoint (AP) or a client station, or any type of wireless station of acellular communication system communicating according to one or morecellular radio access technologies (e.g. LTE, CDMA, GSM), such as a basestation (or cellular tower) or a cellular telephone, for example. Awireless device may communicate according to multiple different radioaccess technologies, for example over multiple RF interfaces.

Wi-Fi—The term “Wi-Fi” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a wireless communication network or RAT that isserviced by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and which providesconnectivity through these access points to the Internet. Most modernWi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on IEEE 802.11 standards andare marketed under the name “Wi-Fi”. A Wi-Fi (WLAN) network is differentfrom a cellular network.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Station (STA)—The term “station” herein refers to any device that hasthe capability of communicating wirelessly, e.g. by using the 802.11protocol. A station may be a laptop, a desktop PC, PDA, access point orWi-Fi phone or any type of device similar to a UE. An STA may be fixed,mobile, portable or wearable. Generally in wireless networkingterminology, a station (STA) broadly encompasses any device withwireless communication capabilities, and the terms station (STA),wireless client (UE) and node (BS) are therefore often usedinterchangeably.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1 and 2—Exemplary Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system ofFIG. 1 is merely one example of a possible system, and embodiments maybe implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a basestation 102 which communicates over a transmission medium with one ormore user devices 106-1 through 106-N and accessory device 107. Each ofthe user devices and the accessory device may be referred to herein as a“user equipment” (UE) or UE device. Thus, the user devices 106 arereferred to as UEs or UE devices. For the purposes of this disclosure,accessory device 107 may also be considered a UE device.

The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UEs 106A through 106N and with accessory device 107. Accessorydevice 107 may also communicate directly with a UE device, e.g. with UEdevice 106B. The base station 102 may also be equipped to communicatewith a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider,a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102 may facilitate communication between the user devicesand/or between the user devices and the network 100. The communicationarea (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a“cell.” As also used herein, from the perspective of UEs, a base stationmay sometimes be considered as representing the network insofar asuplink and downlink communications of the UE are concerned. Thus, a UEcommunicating with one or more base stations in the network may also beinterpreted as the UE communicating with the network.

The base station 102 and the user devices may be configured tocommunicate over the transmission medium using any of various radioaccess technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communicationtechnologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA/LTE-U, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT,1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc. In some embodiments, the basestation 102 communicates with at least one UE/accessory device thatperforms paging-monitoring as described herein.

UE 106/107 may be capable of communicating using multiple wirelesscommunication standards. For example, a UE 106/107 might be configuredto communicate using either or both of a 3GPP cellular communicationstandard (such as LTE) or a 3GPP2 cellular communication standard (suchas a cellular communication standard in the CDMA2000 family of cellularcommunication standards). In some embodiments, the UE 106/107 may beconfigured to operate with reduced power consumption, at least accordingto the various methods of paging monitoring as described herein. Basestation 102 and other similar base stations operating according to thesame or a different cellular communication standard may thus be providedas one or more networks of cells, which may provide continuous or nearlycontinuous overlapping service to UE 106/107 and similar devices over awide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

The UE 106/107 might also or alternatively be configured to communicateusing WLAN, BLUETOOTH′, one or more global navigational satellitesystems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile televisionbroadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H), etc. Othercombinations of wireless communication standards (including more thantwo wireless communication standards) are also possible.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of thedevices 106-1 through 106-N) and accessory device 107 in communicationwith the base station 102, according to some embodiments. Accessorydevice 107 may also communicate with UE device 106. The UE 106 may be adevice with wireless network connectivity such as a mobile phone, ahand-held device, a computer or a tablet, or virtually any type ofwireless device. Similarly, accessory device may be a device withwireless network connectivity such as headphones, smart watch, smartglasses, and the like. The UE 106 and/or accessory device 107 mayperform any of the method embodiments of paging-monitoring describedherein. The UE 106 and accessory device 107 may be configured tocommunicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols. Forexample, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any one ormore of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, WLAN, or GNSS. Accessory device may beconfigured to communicate using any one or more of WLAN, BLUETOOTH™,Wi-Fi, and/or any cellular radio access technologies. Other combinationsof wireless communication standards are also possible.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RATstandards. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may share one or more partsof a receive chain and/or transmit chain between multiple wirelesscommunication standards. The shared radio may include a single antenna,or may include multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performingwireless communications. Alternatively, the UE 106 may include separatetransmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas andother radio components) for each wireless communication protocol withwhich it is configured to communicate. As another alternative, the UE106 may include one or more radios which are shared between multiplewireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 may include a shared radio for communicating using either ofLTE or CDMA2000 1×RTT, and separate radios for communicating using eachof Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH™. Other configurations are also possible.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of an Exemplary UE

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE 106, according tosome embodiments. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip(SOC) 300, which may include portions for various purposes. For example,as shown, the SOC 300 may include one or more processor(s) 302 which mayexecute program instructions for the UE 106 and display circuitry 304which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to thedisplay 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memorymanagement unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addressesfrom the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses to locations inmemory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry304, radio 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display 360. The MMU 340 maybe configured to perform memory protection and page table translation orset up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as a portion ofthe processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g.,including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for couplingto the computer system), the display 360, and wireless communicationcircuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, GPS,etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g. 335 a),and possibly multiple antennas (e.g. illustrated by antennas 335 a and335 b), for performing wireless communication with base stations and/orother wireless communication devices. Antennas 335 a and 335 b are shownby way of example, and UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas.Overall, the one or more antennas are collectively referred to asantenna(s) 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antenna(s) 335 toperform the wireless communication with the aid of radio circuitry 330.As noted above, the UE may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards in some embodiments.

As described further subsequently herein, the UE 106 (and/or basestation 102) may include hardware and software components forimplementing methods for low-power paging-monitoring, e.g. low-power LTEpaging-monitoring. Thus, in some embodiments, UE 106 may include a noveland improved cellular controller 352 that facilitates low-power LTEpaging-monitoring. The processor(s) 302 of the UE device 106 and variousother components within UE 106 may also be incorporated into UE 106 toimplement part or all of the methods of low-power paging-monitoringdescribed herein. For example, processor(s) 302 may execute programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, processor(s) 302and/or at least certain portions of radio circuitry 330 may beconfigured as programmable hardware elements, such as FPGAs (FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays), or as ASICs (Application Specific IntegratedCircuits) or as various dedicated circuits, or any number ofcombinations thereof. Furthermore, processor(s) 302 may be coupled toand/or may interoperate with other components, such as cellularcontroller 352 as shown in FIG. 3, to implement communications by UE 106that incorporate low-power LTE paging-monitoring by UE 106 according tovarious embodiments disclosed herein. Processor(s) 302 may alsoimplement various other applications and/or end-user applicationsrunning on UE 106.

In some embodiments, radio 300 may include separate controllersdedicated to controlling communications for various respective RATstandards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, radio 330 may include aWi-Fi controller 356, a cellular controller (e.g. LTE controller) 352,and BLUETOOTH′ controller 354, and in at least some embodiments, one ormore or all of these controllers may be implemented as respectivededicated circuits, for example integrated circuits (ICs or chips, forshort) in communication with each other and with SOC 300 (and morespecifically with processor(s) 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 356may communicate with cellular controller 352 over a cell-ISM link or WCIinterface, and/or BLUETOOTH′ controller 354 may communicate withcellular controller 352 over a cell-ISM link, etc. While three separatecontrollers are illustrated within radio 330, other embodiments havefewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs that may beimplemented in UE device 106. Furthermore, similar to processor(s) 302,the various controllers 356, 352 and 354 may be implemented as acombination of hardware and software, using one or more processingelements (as described above with respect to the various terms usedherein).

DRX Communications and Physical Channels

One example of a power saving technique developed to save power intransceiver circuitry is known as discontinuous reception (or DRX). Indevices utilizing DRX, portions of wireless circuitry may be powereddown if there is no information (e.g., packets) to be received ortransmitted. The wireless circuitry may periodically be powered on todetermine if there is information to be received, and subsequentlypowered back down again if such a determination indicates that no newinformation is incoming. A device utilizing DRX may determine from aheader in a transmitted packet if the information contained therein isincoming for that device. If the information is not relevant to thatdevice, then circuitry may be powered down for at least a portion of theremainder of the packet, and subsequently powered on before the nextheader. Polling is another technique that may be used, wherein a devicemay periodically send a beacon to an access point or base station todetermine if there is any information waiting for reception. If noinformation is awaiting reception, portions of the wireless circuitrymay be powered down until the next beacon is to be transmitted. Inaddition to determining if information is awaiting reception by themobile device, neighbor cell searching may be conducted during the timewhen the wireless circuitry is powered up while operating in a DRX mode.Neighbor cell searching may be performed in order to enable cellreselection and handover of the mobile device from one cell to another.

In general, DRX has been introduced in several wireless standards suchas UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), LTE (Long-termevolution), WiMAX, etc., which powers down most of user equipment (UE)circuitry when there are no packets to be received or transmitted, andonly wakes up at specified times or intervals to listen to the network.DRX can be enabled in different network connection states, includingconnected mode and idle mode. In connected DRX (C-DRX) mode, the UElistens to the downlink (DL) packets following a specified patterndetermined by the base-station (BS). In idle DRX (I-DRX) mode, the UElistens to the page from the BS to determine if it needs to reenter thenetwork and acquire the uplink (UL) timing. Because DRX allows the UE toswitch off its transceiver circuitry for short intervals when there isno data to receive or transmit, and start “wake up and sleep” cycles tocheck whether there is data to send or receive, operating in C-DRX modehelps decrease battery usage.

The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) is a DL transport channel,and is the main data-bearing channel allocated to users on a dynamic andopportunistic basis. The PDSCH carries data in Transport Blocks (TB)corresponding to a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU),passed from the MAC layer to the physical (PHY) layer once perTransmission Time Interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used to transmitbroadcast information such as System Information Blocks (SIB) and pagingmessages.

The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is a DL control channelthat carries the resource assignment for UEs that are contained in aDownlink Control Information or Indicator (DCI) message. Multiple PDCCHscan be transmitted in the same subframe using Control Channel Elements(CCE), each of which is a nine set of four resource elements known asResource Element Groups (REG). The PDCCH employs quadrature phase-shiftkeying (QPSK) modulation, with four QPSK symbols mapped to each REG.Furthermore, 1, 2, 4, or 8 CCEs can be used for a UE, depending onchannel conditions, to ensure sufficient robustness.

Paging-Monitoring

In some cellular communications, e.g. in LTE communications, RNTIs(Radio Network Temporary Identifiers) are used to differentiate/identifya connected mode UE in the cell, a specific radio channel, a group ofUEs in case of paging, a group of UEs for which power control is issuedby the eNB, system information transmitted for all the UEs by the eNB,etc. There are a several RNTI types in LTE, one of which is Paging RNTI(P-RNTI), which is used by the UEs for the reception of paging. P-RNTIis a common RNTI meaning that it is not allocated to any UE explicitly.A paging message is carried by the PDCCH channel which is mapped to PCHtransport channel, which is mapped to the PDSCH channel. The DCI(Downlink Control Information) formats which carry the schedulinginformation for paging are DCI-1A and DCI-1C in common search space.

Furthermore, a unique International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) istypically allocated to each mobile subscriber. In order to support thesubscriber identity confidentiality service, a Temporary MobileSubscriber Identity (T-IMSI) may be allocated to visiting mobilesubscribers. The VLR (Visitor Location Register), SGSN (Serving Generalpacket radio service Support Node) and MME (Mobile Management Entity)have be capable of correlating an allocated T-IMSI with the IMSI of theUE to which the T-IMSI is allocated.

When in I-DRX mode, the wireless communication device (UE) periodicallywakes up to check for paging. When checking for paging, the UE performsthe following activities:

-   -   Decode the PDCCH    -   If a P-RNTI is identified as a result of decoding the PDCCH,        then decode the PDSCH    -   Check for the UE's T-IMSI in the Page message:        -   If no T-IMSI is identified, then enter DRX off-period        -   If the T-IMSI is identified, then start RRC connection            procedure.

The above sequence may be performed with minimum system resources, i.e.with minimum use of memories, cores, busses, etc. In this context systemresources for a specific function/sequence generally refer to anyhardware and/or software resource required to perform the specificfunction/sequence. In case of “No paging”, i.e. in case either no P-RNTIand/or no T-IMSI has been detected/identified, the system may continueto operate with the minimum system resources. For example, the decodingof PDCCH takes a specified amount of time, which may be approximately200 μsec. If no P-RNTI is found for the UE, then the system may enter a“sleep mode” where minimal system resources are used. If a P-RNTI forthe UE is found, then it may take approximately another 700 μsec todecode PDSCH. If no T-IMSI for the UE is found, the system may thenenter the “sleep mode”. However, if it is determined that the UE isbeing paged (P-RNTI and T-IMSI for the UE have both been identifiedthrough the decoding), then the system switches to operating with fullsystem resources. The transition time from minimum resource use to fullsystem resource use has to conform to LTE standard requirements, butthose requirements still make further improvements possible. Therefore,utilizing only small part of the system resources in the case of “NoPaging” may achieve up to a 70% power saving compared to full systemresource use.

It should be noted that “full system resources” in this context refersto all the resources included in the wireless communication device andused for any given operation. For example, referring to FIG. 3, using“full system resources” for conducting cellular wireless communicationsrefers to using all the resources/components/elements included inside UE106 that are used for conducting all cellular wireless communicationoperations. As disclosed herein, various paging-monitoring operationsmay be performed without the use of the full system resources, e.g. byusing only a portion of the resources within cellular controller 352when performing paging-monitoring, e.g. when performing LTEpaging-monitoring, as will be further described below.

System Resource Use

FIG. 4 shows a diagram illustrating system resource use duringpaging-monitoring and during data transmissions, respectively. As shownin FIG. 4 in the paging use case 402, during a DRX cycle the UE receivesPDCCH and PDSCH and decodes only the paging message in addition todecoding some measurements, which may include occasionally performing aneighboring cell search and performing measurements on those neighboringcells. These activities may be performed using resources present in whatmay be designated as a “paging subsystem” (with at least portions ofthese resources found in cellular controller 352, for example). Asindicated in the data RX and data TX use cases 404 and 406,respectively, all the resources of the UE are utilized to perform UL andDL data transfers. As also noted in the Paging-Monitoring section above,these active data transfer activities require the full system resourcesfor active data transmissions. Thus, as indicated in FIG. 4, duringpaging-monitoring fewer system resources are required while duringactive data transmissions all system resources are required.

FIG. 5 shows the partial block diagram of an exemplary UE architecture,according to prior art. The dashed lines in FIG. 5 represent controlsignals/signaling buses while the solid lines represent data buses. Inaddition to previously described components/resources associated withcertain cellular wireless communications, the architecture shown in FIG.5 includes a non-access stratum (NAS) 502, which is a functional layerin the LTE wireless protocol stacks between the core network and userequipment. The NAS 502 is used to manage the establishment ofcommunication sessions and for maintaining continuous communicationswith the UE as it moves. While components 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512,514, 516, 518, 520, 522, and 526 perform the communication functions,MAC/RRC/PDCP component 524 interfaces with a host 536, which mayrepresent an applications processor, for example (similar toprocessor(s) 302 in FIG. 3). This interfacing may take place throughTCP/IP processing component 530 and host interface 528. MAC/RRC/PDCPcomponent 524 may also interface with Speech processing component 532which may interface with analog CODECs 534. The present LTE cellularcontrollers for LTE communications perform the paging and UL/DL datatransfer cases (illustrated in FIG. 4) using all the same systemresources. In other words, there is no specialized treatment for thepaging use case, and all the system components shown in FIG. 5 areinvolved during paging and/or paging-monitoring as well as during activedata transfers.

Nevertheless, when considering the necessary resources forpaging/paging-monitoring, specific main paging subsystem components maybe identified. Accordingly, the system resources/components used duringpaging-monitoring may include some elements of L1 data path control 514,the RF data path 512 with RF-Control 510, the dedicated downlink datapath 516, and one RRC-ASN1 message parser. ASN-1 (Abstract SyntaxNotation One) is a standard notation that describes rules and structuresfor representing, encoding, transmitting, and decoding data intelecommunications and computer networking. The formal rules enablerepresentation of objects that are independent of machine-specificencoding techniques.

Low-Power Cellular Controller (Modem) Architecture

FIG. 6 illustrates a partial diagram of an exemplary system thatincludes a low-power cellular controller (or modem) architectureaccording to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 6, the low-powercellular controller (LPCC) is divided into three orthogonal domains ormodules, these being a control module (control manager module) 616, anuplink module (uplink manager module) 656, and a downlink module(downlink manager module) 632. Each of these modules is delineated bydashed lines. Modules 616, 656 and 632 are orthogonal in the sense thatthe functionality of each module does not overlap with the functionalityof any of the other two modules. The control module 616 may comprise acontrol core, referred to as the L12 Control Manager Core (L12CM) 618and associated controller hardware subsystem (L12C-HW-Subsystem) 622, aswell as an RF hardware subsystem 620. The uplink manager module 656 maycomprise an Uplink Manager Core (ULM) 626 and associated uplink hardwaresubsystem (UL-HW-Subsystem) 628. The downlink manager module 632 maycomprise a Downlink Manager Core (DLM) 636, and associated downlinkhardware subsystem (DL-HW-Subsystem) 634. The term “Module” as usedherein refers to a collection of one or more processing elements,hardware components, etc. The term “Core” as used herein refers to a“Processing Element” or “Processor” as defined herein. The mainfunctions of L12CM 618 may include decoding the physical downlinkcontrol channel (E-PDCCH and M-PDCCH), and routing control informationbetween ULM core 626 and DLM 636 and MAC 612. ULM core 626 may performall uplink related tasks and DLM core 636 may perform all PDSCH relatedtasks, i.e. all the tasks that involve the physical downlink shared(data) channel.

As mentioned above, the L12 Control Manager Core (L12CM) 618 is coupledto RF circuitry 620. The RF circuitry is configured for performing RFcommunications. The controller module (the L12CM) 618 may couple to aProtocol Stack (PS) Core 606, which includes NAS component 608, RRCcomponent 610, MAC control component 612 and data path 614. The uplinkmanager module 656 may couple through an Uplink Mac FIFO buffer(UL-MAC-FIFO) 624 to the PS Core 606. The downlink manager module 632may couple through a Downlink Mac FIFO buffer (DL-MAC-FIFO) 630 to thePS Core 606. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, data path component614 is used to provide a data interface between the PS Core 606 and bothUL FIFO 624 and DL FIFO 630, and is also used to provide a datainterface between PS Core 606 and communications processing component640 and speech processing component 642 (which interfaces with analogCODECs 644).

As shown in the LPCC architecture of FIG. 6, various cellular controller(modem) resources (such as memory, buses, processors, I/O-interfaces,etc.) have been mapped to various different cellular tasks. Namely, asdiscussed above, at least a portion of DL resources (632) are orthogonalto at least a portion of UL resources (656), and both of those resourcesare also orthogonal to control manager resources 616. The orthogonalityof the resource blocks allows any one of the resource block to bepowered down without affecting the functionality of the other orthogonalresource block. In general, the functionality of the orthogonal resourceblocks may remain unaffected when one or more of the orthogonal resourceis in a non-operational state, or is placed in a non-operational state,for example by being powered down. In the LPCC architecture shown inFIG. 6, three control resource cores (618, 626 and 636) reside in thePHY (physical layer) and one core is for the protocol stack (PS) 606. Asalso mentioned above, the PHY cores are controlling three disjointcellular (e.g. LTE) domains. For example, in some embodiments,functionally L12CM 616 controls/performs measurements, PDCCH decoding,and all LTE signal processing parts, ULM 656 controls/processes alluplink activities, and DLM 632 controls/processes PDSCH. The PHY mayinclude a specified amount of memory, e.g. a total of approximately 6 MBmemory. The PS-core 606, which includes both NAS and AS, may be the maincontributor to memory usage. In some embodiments it may useapproximately 36 MB of memory. As also mentioned above, themodules/components of the paging subsystem include modules/components616, 632, and 646. The only component not shown is theRRC-ASN1-paging-message parser, which will be further discussed below.

When using a device implementing the LPCC architecture shown in FIG. 6,during cellular operations, e.g. during LTE communications, variouscellular, e.g. LTE scenarios and functionalities such as paging,airplane mode, data transfer, etc. may be served by some of theresources while other, unused resources may enter a low-power state,thereby conserving considerable power, extending the battery life ofmobile wireless communication devices. A low-power state may involveturning off certain components and/or reducing clocking and/or reducingvoltage, etc. Accordingly, the resources required for paging-monitoringinclude control manager 616, DLM 632, and respective portions ofresources 648, 650, and 652 collectively designated in FIG. 6 by dottedrectangle 646. It should also be noted here with reference to resources648, 650, and 652 that dotted rectangle 660 collectively designatesthose respective portions of resources 648, 650 and 652 that are notpart of the paging subsystem, i.e. those portions of the resources 648,650 and 652 that are not used/required during paging-monitoring. Themapping of various cellular controller resources to various differentcellular tasks—as shown in FIG. 6—allow performing paging operationswith greatly reduced system resources. Resources 648 may include sharedmemory for IPC, scratch memory for processing, code and data memory foreach core, and HARQ memory, resources 650 may include modeminterconnect, and resources 652 may include scratch memory for hardwareprocessing modules, and registers and memory for each hardware module.

Low-Power Paging-Monitoring without Power-Gating

In one set of embodiments, low-power paging-monitoring, e.g. LP-LTEpaging-monitoring may be performed without power-gating, using disjointphysical cellular resources (which may be part of a cellular controller,e.g. cellular controller 352 shown in FIG. 3). Power-gating in thiscontext refers to completely powering down unused system resources.Accordingly, when performing LP-LTE paging-monitoring withoutpower-gating, unused resources are not necessarily powered down orcompletely turned off. Instead, they may remain in a low-power state.

Referring back to FIG. 6, a one-RRC-ASN1 message parser for theRRC-paging message may be integrated into DLM core 636. When the systementers an IDLE state (e.g. DRX idle state), all the components of thesystem except the paging subsystem components 646, 616 and 632 may entera low-power state. In some embodiments, a low-power state meansmaintaining memory voltages at retention voltage values approximately50% less than standard operational voltages for the involved memories,and operating the involved processing elements (or cores) at a lowestallowed clock rate, which may be 60% of a designated peak clock rate. Ingeneral, low-power state refers to a power state allowing some specifiedfunctionality of the powered components with reduced power, e.g. reducedwith respect to power provided to those component when targeting higherand/or different performance, e.g. performance that corresponds tonormal operational levels. Again, all the components of the system mayenter this low-power state except the paging subsystem components 646,616 and 632, which may operate at normal operational levels.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of an example method for performingpaging-monitoring without power-gating, according to some embodiments.When the system enters IDLE state, all the components of the systemexcept the paging subsystem components are placed in a low-power state(802). The paging subsystem then performs the following:

-   -   a core manager within the paging subsystem, e.g. L12CM 618        processes PDCCH and optionally performs measurements; e.g.        measurements may be occasionally performed but not necessarily        on every DRX cycle (804).    -   If PDCCH indicates there is no P-RNTI grant (“No” branch taken        at 806), the paging subsystem enters the DRX off mode (810).    -   If PDCCH indicates a P-RNTI grant (“Yes” branch taken at 806), a        downlink manager within the paging subsystem, e.g. DLM 632        processes PDSCH and decodes the RRC-ASN1 paging message (808).    -   If there is no paging assigned for the UE (“No” branch taken at        812), i.e. the PDSCH indicates no T-IMSI for the UE, the paging        subsystem enters the DRX off mode (810).    -   If PDSCH contains paging for the UE (“Yes” branch taken at 812),        the paging subsystem places the entire system in normal        operating mode (leaving low-power mode) to serve the RRC        connection procedure which requires all the system to be active        (814).

The procedure, as shown in FIG. 8, may be repeated each time the systementers an IDLE state. Performing paging-monitoring/operations asdescribed above may result in conserving a considerable amount of power,e.g. up to 40% of the power that would be consumed during DRX cycles ifit were not possible to keep all system components—except those includedin the paging subsystem—in low-power mode. This effectively provides asmall paging subsystem that serves the paging use-case separately fromthe data TX and RX use-case.

Low-Power Paging-Monitoring with Power-Gating

In one set of embodiments, low-power paging-monitoring, e.g. LP-LTEpaging-monitoring may be performed with power-gating, using disjointphysical cellular resources (which may be part of a cellular controller,e.g. cellular controller 352 shown in FIG. 3). Accordingly, whenperforming LP-LTE paging-monitoring, unused resources are powered downor completely turned off, instead of remaining in a low-power state.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a one-RRC-ASN1 message parser for theRRC-paging message may be integrated into DLM core 636. When the systementers an IDLE state (e.g. DRX idle state), a present state of thesystem corresponding to the unused (in paging subsystem) resources 606,660, 624, 656, and 630 (which are blocked out in FIG. 7 as shown) issaved in non-volatile memory (flash) 602 via modem interconnect 604. Thecomponents/resources 606, 660, 624, 656, and 630 may then bepower-gated, i.e. they may be powered down. The paging subsystem maythen monitor for paging to determine if there is paging for the UEdevice.

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of one method of performingpaging-monitoring with power-gating, according to some embodiments. Whenthe system enters IDLE state, a present state of system resources notused during paging-monitoring is saved in non-volatile memory, and theunused system resources are powered down (902). The paging subsystem(including components 646, 616 and 632) may then perform the following:

-   -   a core manager within the paging subsystem, e.g. L12CM 618        processes PDCCH and optionally performs measurements, i.e.        measurements may be occasionally performed but not necessarily        on every DRX cycle (904).    -   If PDCCH indicates there is no P-RNTI grant (“No” branch taken        at 906), the paging subsystem enters the DRX off mode (910).    -   If PDCCH indicates a P-RNTI grant (“Yes” branch taken at 906), a        downlink manager within the paging subsystem, e.g. DLM 632        processes PDSCH and decodes the RRC-ASN1 paging message (908).    -   If there is no paging assigned for the UE, i.e. the PDSCH        indicates no T-IMSI for the UE (“No” branch taken at 912), the        paging subsystem enters the DRX off mode (910).    -   If PDSCH contains paging for the UE (“Yes” branch taken at 912),        the paging subsystem flashes (writes) code corresponding to        components/resources 606, 660, 624, 656, and 630 into a        low-power system memory (which may be a low-power DDR memory),        and flashes (writes) the previously stored system state (which        was stored in non-volatile memory 602) into the low-power system        memory from non-volatile memory 602 (914).

Subsequently, the system may begin the attach procedure to respond tothe paging request. The procedure as shown in FIG. 9 may be repeatedeach time the system enters an IDLE state. Performing paging operationsas described above may result in conserving a considerable amount ofpower, e.g. conserving up to 80% of the power that would be consumedduring DRX cycles if it were not possible to power-gate systemcomponents/resources 606, 660, 624, 656, and 630. This may especially bebeneficial in the case of small form-factor technologies, e.g. 14 nmtechnologies where memory use accounts for a large portion of the powerused.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

1. An apparatus for use in wireless communications, the apparatuscomprising: a processor configured to cause a device to: performmonitoring for paging using: a downlink control subsystem used toperform tasks related to a physical downlink data channel; and a controlmanager subsystem used to decode a physical downlink control channel androute control information between an uplink control subsystem and thedownlink control subsystem, wherein the uplink control subsystem is usedfor performing uplink related tasks of wireless communications conductedby the device according to a specific wireless communication technology,and wherein the uplink control subsystem, the downlink controlsubsystem, and the control manager subsystem are used by the device toconduct the wireless communications; and place at least the uplinkcontrol subsystem into one of: a low-power state during the monitoringfor paging; or a power-down state during the monitoring for paging. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to causethe device to: place a wireless communication protocol stack of thedevice into one of the low-power state or the power-down state duringthe monitoring for paging, wherein the wireless communication protocolstack is used along with the uplink control subsystem, the downlinkcontrol subsystem, and the control manager subsystem to conduct thewireless communications.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the device to parse paging messagesusing the downlink control subsystem.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the processor is configured to cause the device to perform themonitoring for paging using one or more of the following: a respectiveportion of shared memory of the device used for inter-processorcommunication; a respective portion of scratch memory of the device usedfor processing; a respective portion of code and data memory of thedevice used by processing core elements of the device that are not partof wireless communication system resources of the device; a respectiveportion of scratch memory used by hardware modules of the device; or arespective portion of registers and memory used by the hardware modulesof the device.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to place the uplinkcontrol subsystem into the low-power state, the processor is configuredto cause the device to perform one or more of the following: set memoryvoltages to levels below operating voltage levels for memories of thedevice included in the uplink control subsystem; or decrease a clockfrequency of operating clocks of processing elements of the deviceincluded in the uplink control subsystem.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein processor is configured to cause the device to: save a presentstate of the uplink control subsystem and code associated with theuplink control subsystem into a non-volatile memory element of thedevice, prior to placing the uplink control subsystem into thepower-down state; and restore, to system memory of the device, the savedpresent state of the uplink control subsystem and the code associatedwith the uplink control subsystem, in response to the uplink subsystembeing powered up.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to cause the device to: process a physical downlink controlchannel and determine if the physical downlink control channel indicatespaging, subsequent to placing the uplink control subsystem into one ofthe low-power state or the power-down state.
 8. The apparatus of claim7, wherein processor is configured to cause the device to: in responseto determining that the physical downlink control channel indicatespaging, process the physical downlink data channel and determine whetherany of the paging is for the device.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein processor is configured to cause the device to: perform one ofthe following in response to determining that at least some of thepaging is for the device: place the uplink control subsystem into normaloperating mode, in case the uplink control subsystem was previouslyplaced into the low-power state; or restore a previously stored systemstate of the uplink control subsystem and code associated with theuplink control subsystem to system memory, in case the uplink controlsubsystem was previously placed into the power-down state.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to cause thedevice to: enter a discontinuous reception off-mode of operation inresponse to determining that none of the paging is for the device. 11.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to causethe device to: enter a discontinuous reception off-mode of operation inresponse to determining that the physical downlink control channel doesnot indicate paging.
 12. A device, comprising: radio frequency (RF)circuitry for facilitating RF communications of the device; and aprocessor communicatively coupled to the RF circuitry and configured tocause the device to: perform monitoring for paging using: a downlinksubsystem used to perform tasks related to a physical downlink datachannel; and a control subsystem used to decode a physical downlinkcontrol channel and route control information between an uplinksubsystem and the downlink subsystem, wherein the uplink subsystem isused for performing uplink related tasks of wireless communicationsconducted by the device according to a specific wireless communicationtechnology, and wherein the uplink subsystem, the downlink subsystem,and the control subsystem are used by the device to conduct the wirelesscommunications; and place at least the uplink subsystem into one of: alow-power state during the monitoring for paging; or a power-down stateduring the monitoring for paging
 13. The device of claim 12, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the device to: place a wirelesscommunication protocol stack of the device into one of the low-powerstate or the power-down state during the monitoring for paging, whereinthe wireless communication protocol stack is used along with the uplinksubsystem, the downlink subsystem, and the control subsystem to conductthe wireless communications.
 14. The device of claim 12, wherein theprocessor is configured to cause the device to perform the monitoringfor paging using one or more of the following: a respective portion ofshared memory of the device used for inter-processor communication; arespective portion of scratch memory of the device used for processing;a respective portion of code and data memory of the device used byprocessing core elements of the device that are not part of wirelesscommunication system resources of the device; a respective portion ofscratch memory used by hardware modules of the device; or a respectiveportion of registers and memory used by the hardware modules of thedevice.
 15. The device of claim 12, wherein to cause the device to placethe uplink subsystem into the low-power state, the processor isconfigured to cause the device to perform one or more of the following:set memory voltages to levels below operating voltage levels formemories of the device included in the uplink subsystem; or decrease aclock frequency of operating clocks of processing elements of the deviceincluded in the uplink subsystem.
 16. A non-transitory memory elementstoring programming instructions executable by a processor to cause adevice to: perform monitoring for paging using: a downlink subsystemused to perform tasks related to a physical downlink data channel; and acontrol subsystem used to decode a physical downlink control channel androute control information between an uplink subsystem and the downlinksubsystem, wherein the uplink subsystem is used for performing uplinkrelated tasks of wireless communications conducted by the deviceaccording to a specific wireless communication technology, and whereinthe uplink subsystem, the downlink subsystem, and the control subsystemare used by the device to conduct the wireless communications; and placeat least the uplink subsystem into one of: a low-power state during themonitoring for paging; or a power-down state during the monitoring forpaging.
 17. The non-transitory memory element of claim 16, wherein theprogramming instructions are executable by the processor to cause thedevice to perform one or more of the following: place a wirelesscommunication protocol stack of the device into one of the low-powerstate or the power-down state during the monitoring for paging, whereinthe wireless communication protocol stack is used along with the uplinksubsystem, the downlink subsystem, and the control subsystem to conductthe wireless communications; or perform the monitoring for paging usingone or more of the following: a respective portion of shared memory ofthe device used for inter-processor communication; a respective portionof scratch memory of the device used for processing; a respectiveportion of code and data memory of the device used by processing coreelements of the device that are not part of wireless communicationsystem resources of the device; a respective portion of scratch memoryused by hardware modules of the device; or a respective portion ofregisters and memory used by the hardware modules of the device.
 18. Thenon-transitory memory element of claim 16, wherein to cause the deviceto place at least the uplink subsystem into the low-power state, theprogramming instructions are executable by the processor to cause thedevice to perform one or more of the following: set memory voltages tolevels below operating voltage levels for memories of the deviceincluded in the uplink control subsystem; or decrease a clock frequencyof operating clocks of processing elements of the device included in theuplink control subsystem.
 19. The non-transitory memory element of claim16, wherein to cause the device to place at least the uplink subsysteminto the power-down state, the programming instructions are executableby the processor to cause the device to: save a present state of theuplink subsystem and code associated with the uplink subsystem into anon-volatile memory element of the device, prior to placing the uplinksubsystem into the power-down state.
 20. The non-transitory memoryelement of claim 19, wherein the programming instructions are executableby the processor to cause the device to: restore, to system memory ofthe device, the saved present state of the uplink subsystem and the codeassociated with the uplink subsystem, in response to the uplinksubsystem being powered up.